Rockville Now Targeted for Horse Slaughter Plant

File photo of a horse. (Photo by Robin Utrecht/Getty Images)File photo of a horse. (Photo by Robin Utrecht/Getty Images)

ROCKVILLE, Mo. (AP) — A Wyoming-based company says it plans to open a horse slaughtering plant in western Missouri.

Unified Equine Missouri announced Thursday that it hopes to open the plant in Rockville, less than a hundred miles south of Kansas City in Bates County.

The company says the plant could eventually slaughter up to 800 horses a day, with most of the meat going to Europe.

Unified Equine originally proposed opening the plant in Mountain Grove, but residents around the southwest Missouri town mounted fierce opposition.

Wyoming legislator Sue Wallis, head of Unified Equine, says a former beef packing plant near Rockville is being renovated. She says the plant should open by the end of summer and eventually create 50 jobs.